When to Transplant Established Mums

samnsarahMarch 20, 2012

I have a bunch of mums along the east side of my house. I planted them last year, and they were gorgeous. That side of my house receives morning sun and afternoon shade and is partially protected from wind and frost, so the mums thrive there. Anyway, we had a very mild winter here in South-central Kansas and my mums were already emerging in mid-January. They are already 6-7 inches tall, so I pinched them yesterday evening. I was going to dig some of them up and transplant them in the same area but in places where there are gaps. Do you think it would be okay to transplant them this Saturday, 3/24/12?

I am in zone 6a, which doesn't mean as much as the climate I am in. Here in SC KS it rarely gets below 55 degrees after March 15th. We have had frost and rain but barely any snow and the summer in this part of the state usually equates to drought and humidity. I also have rich sandy-loam soil. I didn't amend it at all and used no fertilizer, but the mums still looked great. Please let me know if you think it is safe for me to transplant yet or not. I appreciate any advice you could give me.(Copy and paste the URLs below to see the photos)

lol Ken, you're right I do tend to overthink when it comes to gardening. Thanks for your advice. I feel comfortable now in transplanting them. I'll also keep the mulch around the new transplants to help protect the roots.

I will make sure that when I dig up the gob of mums that I also take a GOB OF SOIL with them. I will then take the GOB OF SOIL from the place I am going to transplant the gob of mums and put it where the original GOB OF SOIL came from. This way I won't be missing any GOBs OF SOIL in my flower bed. GOBless spots in my flower may create erosion, and I certainly don't want that.
Wow, ken, that was hard to say and write. I'm all GOBed out.